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Page 1 — “I didn’t have an absolutely clear conscience”
Page 2 — Scar Show
How exciting it would be if someone’s life was described by their greatest adversary. Oscar Lafontaine’s balance sheet, set to music by Gerhard Schröder. Noel Gallagher, who portrays his brother Liam. Or Christoph Daum’s biography, commented by Uli Hoeneß. We still have to wait for the first two films, the latter is now in the documentary Daum – triumphs and scandals (from October 27th on Sky / WOW) to see.
Hoeneß actually only plays a supporting role. Daum has had lung cancer for a year. The camera is there during his chemotherapy treatments and that’s not the only reason why it seems as if he wants to draw a conclusion. Daum is currently celebrating his 70th birthday. But there is one constant in Daum’s life: Uli Hoeneß.
Without Hoeneß there is no Daum, without Daum there is no Hoeneß
In the film as in life, he is of course not just a marginal figure. The Hoeneß-Daum dualism has preoccupied the German football public for almost three decades. Hoeneß fought his arguments with no other person as passionately as with Christoph Daum. Both represent one of the biggest rivalries in German football. Hoeneß prevented Daum from becoming national coach, and Daum in turn almost overthrew Hoeneß. And that’s why Daum’s story can’t stand alone; it has to be told in relation to Hoeneß.
Today, Daum and Hoeneß have long since gotten along, and that’s why they both remember those crazy days in which tabloid journalists couldn’t take compensatory days: the so-called cocaine affair in the fall of 2000. Daum was in one a few months earlier as coach of Bayer Leverkusen The spectacular season finale once again came second behind Bayern. He and Bayern’s Ottmar Hitzfeld were the coaches of the moment, and one of them would become the new national coach. The decision falls on Daum – and Hoeneß, who has been Daum’s opponent for more than a decade, initially supports him. For tactical reasons: “A small ulterior motive was that we didn’t want to lose Hitzfeld,” he now says, and once again it shows how clever Hoeneß’ personnel policy once was.
The cocaine affair
Daum says that he had just separated from his wife and was living in a hotel in Cologne where discreet parties were taking place. He also had a risky real estate deal going on in Mallorca. Lots of stress, then cocaine. “I then tried it out sporadically, in manageable quantities, at the hotel parties.” He is later mistakenly attributed to a drug and prostitution ring.
Now Hoeneß describes how the momentous interview with the evening newspaper came about. He was asked by the reporter in passing what he said about the rumors that Daum was in the red light district and taking drugs. “If that’s the case, then he can’t become a national coach,” was his answer. The lines wrote themselves.
They argued for a long time and made up again: Uli Hoeneß and Christoph Daum. © Sky
Suddenly Hoeneß is seen as the main villain who had publicly driven Daum towards him with outrageous accusations. Even Franz Beckenbauer said: “He is currently alone with his opinion.” Hoeneß suffered. He says that the attacks back then were worse than those before and during his years in prison, and he comes to the game in Cottbus with bodyguards.
Then the hair sample. It took place against the advice of the Bayer Group, as the then manager Rainer Calmund reports. But Daum was sure about it, he says, because he had already done a test with a doctor friend. It remained negative, the last consumption was some time ago. The opportunity for liberation. Then the iconic sentence comes: “I do this because I have an absolutely clear conscience.” That wasn’t his idea. Daum wanted to say: “Drugs have played no role in my life.” But the wording was too lax for the club.
Today, Daum laughs as he tells the story: “I knew that wasn’t true. I didn’t have an absolutely clear conscience.” He does not deny consumption, regrets it and would like to undo it. But he also hints at doubts about the sample. Was it stored improperly? Mislabeled? An expert later confirmed in court that the sample could have been adulterated.
How exciting it would be if someone’s life was described by their greatest adversary. Oscar Lafontaine’s balance sheet, set to music by Gerhard Schröder. Noel Gallagher, who portrays his brother Liam. Or Christoph Daum’s biography, commented by Uli Hoeneß. We still have to wait for the first two films, the latter is now in the documentary Daum – triumphs and scandals (from October 27th on Sky / WOW) to see.
Hoeneß actually only plays a supporting role. Daum has had lung cancer for a year. The camera is there during his chemotherapy treatments and that’s not the only reason why it seems as if he wants to draw a conclusion. Daum is currently celebrating his 70th birthday. But there is one constant in Daum’s life: Uli Hoeneß.
